


Eyes

by CannibaLilly



Series: Goretober 2017 [9]
Category: Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy
Genre: Gen, Ghouls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-15 06:59:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12316083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CannibaLilly/pseuds/CannibaLilly
Summary: Valkyrie won't believe Skulduggery's house is haunted. Someone wants to prove her wrong.Day 9 of my Goretober challenge!





	Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Goretober Rating: (4/10). A spooky idea and by God, if I had more time I could turn this into a scary little monster hunt, but this week is so full of events, I'm glad I managed to write anything at all.

“Of course it's haunted,” Skulduggery had told her one day, almost sounding offended that she would suspect otherwise. “Most old houses are, and mine is no exception.”

 

“So you've got a ghost that lives with you and hides your keys?”

 

“Don't be ridiculous,” he has answered. “It's more of a ghoul.”

 

At this, Valkyrie had sighed, exasperated. She was not going to fall for another of his octopus-people-stories. Skulduggery seemed to take her unwillingness to believe him rather more personally than usual, because from that day on, her visits to his house on cemetery road got more troublesome.

 

Things she was positive she had left in one spot showed up somewhere else entirely, also doors she had left open were closed the next time she looked, and sometimes Valkyrie could hear the floor boards upstairs creaking.

 

It was almost funny how much effort Skulduggery put into this story of his. Of course he would deny being the source of all this when Valkyrie asked him. He simply advised her to get on her good side. Yes, apparently his ghoul was a she.

 

Valkyrie had just grinned and shaken her head even though she had to admit there were times when it almost got to her. Times when she started feeling watched when she was at Skulduggery's. She hoped he would give up soon. She had always felt comfortable at his place and didn't want that to change.

 

But things did change and it all reached its peak on the ninth of October. After a two-day stake-out, both Valkyrie and Skulduggery were rather exhausted. Because it was the closest place, they drove to the house on cemetery road where Valkyrie claimed the bathroom for herself - a recent addition and only for her, even though Skulduggery would never admit it – and Skulduggery went to get changed and maybe meditate for an hour to “charge his mental battery” as he put it.

 

The bathroom was nice though it wasn't really spacious. It had a toilet, a sink, a mirror and some shelves, and, most importantly, a bathtub that could be used as a shower. Tonight Valkyrie very much intended to use it as a tub though.

 

She untied her hair and peeled off her clothes. Even though the were made by Ghastly, after two days of work, even they felt good to get out of. She let the water pour into the tub and added some of the stone that helped against bruises. She didn't wait for the tub to fill fully, her body craved the hot water right now.

 

With a guttural sigh, Valkyrie sank into the water and closed her eyes. She was going to soak here until the water turned cold. Once her body had gotten used to the heat, she sank under water and untangled her hair. She opened her eyes and watched how silky her hair looked here. It flowed around her like a veil and _what on earth was that?!_

 

Valkyrie sat upright, splashing water on the floor, and stared at the door. Had she imagined the door knob turning? She pulled her knees closer to her chin, suddenly feeling watched. Skulduggery valued her privacy too much to burst in on her like that, but would he toy with her just a little by turning the knob?

 

With a frown, she sat back. Her eyes remained fixed on the door though. So this was either Skulduggery or her own imagination playing a trick on her. No reason to get worried either way. One thing was certain, Skulduggery's house was sufficiently protected. No burglar would find their way inside and even if some stranger was in the house, they wouldn't have stopped at the door, they would have come in by now and attacked her.

 

Another minute dragged by slowly in which nothing happened and Valkyrie finally allowed herself to relax. She felt her muscles loosening for the first time in weeks and just opened her eyes to light a candle, when she spotted it.

 

The door had been opened a creak and someone, or something, was pressing its face to the crack. She saw a huge, yellow eye watching her. It sat deeply in a wrinkled face. This was all she managed to register in the split second between opening her eyes and the eye realizing it had been caught watching her and slamming the door shut.

 

Valkyrie screamed and bolted out of the tub. Her scream must have been enough to shake Skulduggery out of his meditation and he came charging into the bathroom with his gun in his hand. By now, Valkyrie had wrapped herself in a towel.

 

“What happened?” Skulduggery wanted to know, but instead of telling him Valkyrie just shook her head and said. “Okay, what do I have to do to get on the good side of this ghoul of yours?”


End file.
